Out Of The Woods
by Apple cranberry
Summary: This is meant to be the squeal/ closer to Night in the woods. They say change is inevitable. They say a lot of things. Some welcome it. Some hate it. Some are prepared. Some aren't. But what do you do when the change you tried so hard to avoid, sacrificed so much for is now what you want more then anything? They say you cant run forever. I beg to differ.
1. prologue

(To all first time readers, this "chatroom" style writing does not last beyond this chapter, dont be scared off)

/SYSTEM_BOOT_UP

/BOOT_UP COMPLETE

-WELCOME_USER_MAE-

Mae: Hey sorry about earlier.

Bea: It's fine, it was a mistake, I know you didn't purposely do it.

Mae: Thanks… Uhh, How's your Dad doing?

Bea: Pretty good, we took him to Dr. Hank, he says that the parasite in my Dad can be beat and he should just rest for now.

Mae: So do nothing? Isn't that like, what he normally does?

Bea: He's old, Mae.

Mae: Yea but like Mr.P is like waaaay older then him and he's still outside doing stuff.

Bea: My Dad worked hard before and a while after my Mom passed away. Him working 12 hour shifts almost every day did a lot of damage to his body.

Mae: True but Mr.P fought "em dam effing Krauts" Which I think wore down his body a *lot* faster.

Bea:Wait, what? How do you know that?

Mae: He wasn't always such a meanie, remember? back when we were kids Mrs.P would have us over for lemonade and let us play in the sprinkler, do you really not remember?

Bea: Oh wow I totally forgot about that. Man that feels like it was a 100 years ago.

Mae: After we were done we would sit on his porch and he would tell us about when he was young.

Bea: Oh yea and Mrs.P would have to tell him to "Quiet down now Richard" when he started too get to *graphic* lol.

Mae: Scar3d 4 lif3

Bea: agr33d

Mae: Whatever happened to Mrs.P?

Bea: I think she kicked the bucket? Pretty sure it was just age.

Mae: I guessed now we know why he's so cranky. I feel bad but like, he's like *always" an ass so.

Bea: Still, try and be at least a little nice to him?

Mae: Yea, sure.

Bea: Ok well, Im gonna go to bed, I am so. Effing. Tired.

Mae: Same. Why did Greg have to drag us so far out in the woods, just to see some stupid waterfall?

Bea: I mean, it was pretty, but not worth the three hour long hike.

Mae: Agreed. Well, goodnight.

Bea:Night

*A few hours later

*Bea wakes up to a loud crash from her Father's room. She runs in to find him on the ground, grabbing his chest and coughing blood. Bea quickly picks him up and places him back in bed, she then runs to the living room, grabs the house phone and calls 911. The operator says to hang tight, that help is on the way and will be there soon. Thing is, the hospital is a 20 minute drive away and one look at her Dad's state convinces Bea that it may already be too late. She tries to call doctor Hank, but is interrupted by her Father.

"Bea… Come here." Says Bea's Dad.

"Y-yea Dad? What is it?" Says Bea, walking hastily towards her Father.

"Bea look at me…"

"Bea turns to look at her father. He's a mess, his eyes are red, and his teeth are stained red as well from all the bloody coughing.

"Look, help will be here soon, you just have to-"

"Bea… We both know this is it for me. When Hank said that there were, "some cases of survival" he was talking about for rich folk, not us. He also told me that *Cough* their people out there who buy the corpses of people with the parasite for research. I told him that once I die, I wanted them to take my body and give you the money…

"No Dad don't talk like that, you're gonna make it, please don't just give up on me!"

"I am Bea, im fighting as hard as I can, but it's doomed fight. Look, you need to promise me that you'll get out of this god forsaken town. Your Mom and I tried our hardest to get this family out of this hell hole, but it looks like only one of us is gonna escape. Bea… Promise me you'll live the life you deserve…

"Dad no, I-"

"Please Bea… Promise me…"

"Ok, I promise, look, the E.R people will be here any second, just stay with me, please!"

"Dad?"


	2. The odyssey

? ﾸﾎ ︎✌︎❄︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ? ﾸﾎ? ﾸﾎ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ✋︎ ︎ ❄︎ ︎✋︎? ﾸﾎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎❄︎✌︎ ︎✍︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎✡︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎✌︎✡︎ ? ﾸﾎ✋︎❄︎ ︎ ✋︎❄︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎✍︎

︎ ︎❍︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎ ◻︎●︎ ︎⍓︎ ︎■︎ ︎ ⬥︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎❒︎□︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎❒︎? ﾸﾎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎□︎□︎●︎ ︎⬧︎ ︎ ︎■︎ ︎ ︎■︎ ︎ ︎❒︎...✂︎ ︎ ︎❍︎✂︎. ✋︎ ❍︎ ︎⍓︎ ◻︎ ︎❒︎⧫︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ❖︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎⍓︎⬧︎? ﾸﾎ ︎◆︎⧫︎ ︎⧫︎⬧︎ ◆︎◻︎ ⧫︎□︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ⧫︎□︎ ︎❒︎□︎⬧︎⬧︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ❒︎ ︎❖︎ ︎❒︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ●︎ ︎⍓︎ ︎■︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ■︎ ︎⬥︎ ❖︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎⍓︎.


	3. Chapter 1

"Hey hunny?" "Yea mom?!" Shouts Mae. "Could you say hi?" Says Mae's mom, followed by Mae walking into the small kitchen and hoping up on the counter. "What is it that your require maternal organism?" "Mae, when you were at the funeral for Bea's dad, did you break anything?" "Ummm...maaaaybe" "Mae sweet heart you can't do that! It's destruction of property!" "Psssh. Eff the system." Mae says, arms crossed. "Well we just got a letter from the place and you have a job now, so you have to pay for whatever you broke... unless it's really big". "Okkkey mum, I'm headed out now, toodles." Says Mae, standing up and walking to the door." "Be safe sweetie."

The spring air feels good, as its so much warmer then the actual temperature. God dammit it's late March, snow should be gone by now. Gregg and Angus are gunna be leaving in a few days. My body is not ready for dat yet, I'll do a "stay up all night crying and thinking about stuff and be late for work the next day." In classic Mae fashion. Off to Gregg and Angus's apartment!

"Soooooo what's the letter say Mae?" Asks Gregg, sitting on the couch right on top of "the mystery stain that is either milk or Love fluids" As they all call it. "Hold on lemme get it out" says Mae, tearing into the envelope and digging out a official looking paper and a hand written note on a slightly wrinkled piece of paper. She takes out the official paper first and says In her best attempt at a official sounding voice, which is basically a really bad British accent. "To whom it may concern, right before the cremation of , it was discovered that a slip of paper and check which are included in the envelope were in his left pocket. It is unknown how he could have known he was about to die, as the autopsy revealed he passed away from a heart attack, which would have killed him almost instantly...". At this point Mae has shifted back to her normal voice but In a worried tone. "Wait...do you think "they" did it? I thought we killed those assholes!". "No, if it was them, their would be no body". Says Bea, lighting another smoke. "Regardless, the message and money has been included in this envelope. Have a nice day". Continues Mae. "Money?" Says Gregg. Mae takes out the other note and behind it is a check for 3.1 thousand dollars. "Holy crap!" Says Mae, as she starts to read the note. "Dear Mae, I know you're probably surprised to be getting this note. You must think I hate you, however that's far from the truth. To put it frankly, you remind me of a younger me. A dumber me. A me that would have fallen to the drink and probably died a drunk in his youth had it not been for the war. It's funny, how that reaper that took so much from so many also saved my life. Well to be exact, the Navy did. I forget which damn city it was in France but I got shot by some Sneaky Kraut son of a bitch sniper right in the chest. On a hospital ship back home, I met the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on. We fell in love and got married. After the war I got hired to work at this brand new ski resort in the Pocono mountains, "Little Rock" they called it. You probably never heard of it. Look it up on your computer or something, or better yet a BOOK. I worked there till I retired, my boss was a Canadian named Elizabeth, crazy nut still owns the place. We moved back to my hometown, Possum springs, when I retired. My wife passed away before me. And now it's my time to join her. We never had kids, so I leave what little I have to you. If you stay in this damn town, it will slowly yet surely be the end of you. My savior was the war. Yours will be the mountains. That ski resort? I'm pretty sure they are hiring. You'll see why it's so special soon.

Trust me, young missy

Mr.P

So I did some research on that ski resort, turns out they are actually hiring, and I have no idea how the old nut could have known that. Anyway here's the deal, it's a small resort and doesn't have that many runs, but it gets a decent amount of business. Apparently that's just the way the owner likes it. Anyway, with the job comes the ability to rent a room in this lodge they built for the staff. I contacted the place and they said I could get a job as a lift operator and fixer.

Don't you have to have a degree or something in engineering or something for that Mae?

I thought so too, but they said one and a half years is good enough lol. I'm seriously thinking about doing it.

Are their any other open spots?

Actually yea! They need an equipment manager!...OMG BEA YOU COULD LIKE-

And you say it is pretty far away from here?

Umm...kinda, it's down in north Pennsylvania, why?

I'm coming. Gimme the link.

WAIT WHAT?! But you have the shop!

I've had some offers from people to buy it. I'll sell it. I need to come for... reasons... look I just need to get out of this town for a bit or while or something. Could you please send me the link?

Ok! OMG THIS IS GUNNA BE SO FUN! IM GUNNA GO TELL GREGG HE IS TOTALLY GUNNA BE SO HAPPY 4 YOU!

Ok. Goodnight.

Oh wow... uh goodnight I guess lol.

(Insert a shit ton of *, enough to get to late fall)

"You sure you have everything? All your clothes? Your laptop and stuff?" Says Mae's Mom. "Yes mum, I triple checked like you said to." "I just can't believe my kitten is going away again!" "Alright Mae, I'm all packed, ready when you are" says Bea, hoping in her car. "Ok! Just gimme a sec!" Mae turns and says her goodbyes to her mom, complaining how she's gunna squeeze her to death. "So this is it huh? Once more unto the breach?" Says Mae's Dad. "Yup. For realzys this time. Promise. Besides I got Bea to help me not to get super depressed and ya know, almost kill myself and such." "Hmm. Well that's good." Says Mae's Dad. They both chuckle for a little bit. "Look Mae. No matter what happens we will be here for you. We were before and still will." "I know dad. Love you." "I love you to kitten." He says, hugging Mae. Mae proceeds to get into the car and the two start to drive away, but Bea stops right at the border of town. "So this is it huh." "Yup." "You know that feeling when your about to finally reach a goal, do a thing or just start something and you know it will probably be good for you or you finally achieved it but you pause just for a just moment. That little second where you think "do I really wanna do this?". I'm having that right now but a lot longer." "Hey, you got me. I mean, that's something right?" "I guess it is... Ready to potentially eff up our already effed up lives?" "Nope! Onwards steed!" Bea laughs a little, and pauses for a moment, before letting out a Breath and driving down that long winding road.

So yea, chapter one. PLZ LEAVE FEED BACK IT HALPS! thanks!


	4. Chapter 2

"Mae, wake up, we're coming up on the place." Said Bea. "Huh? Wha?" Stuttered a very, very tired Mae, who only fell asleep about 15 minutes ago. When Mae looks out the window she can see a little mountain town, tucked away from the world, yet still fairly modern. She can see shops, homes, even a little school. It's the only thing other than the two ski resorts in this little C as Mae calls it. The reasons she calls it this is because the mountain bends around creating a C shape. The two ski resorts at each side, the town at the entryway, a lake with rental homes (and the lodge) in the far back and dense forest filling the gap. As the two travel along they eventually reach their destination, Lake sneeuw kus. The house is on the lake near the back, pretty excluded from most of the rental homes for skiers and hikers.

The two pull up to the place and Mae examines her new home. It's a very large house, made out of that plastic siding that is supposed to look like wood. The house is built on a small slope facing the lake, so the back of the house is fairly bland and lacking, as only people going to the house will see it. They unload and drag their stuff inside. They head down a hallway, along the sides are doors to other rooms. Three Bathrooms, a supply closet, an actual closet and a laundry room. "Hello? anyone home?" shouts Mae. "Yea! Just come on in!" Says a voice down the hall. The two proceed down the hallway a bit more before eventually coming out to the main living room. It is both as large as it is open. Its has two brown sofas centered around a table in front of the fireplace. There's also a wooden rocking chair facing the massive glass window showing off the lake. Behind the living room is the kitchen, moderately sized and with another table for eating. The stairs are up on the wall and go up and down, Mae can see the loft overlooking the Living room and the smell of chlorine coming from the basement. A Husky walks down the stairs towards the two. "Hi, names Andrew. You two are the new guys right? Uhh Mae and Bea?" Says Andrew. "Yea thats us, quite the setup you got here." Says Bea. "Well when you have eight people living in the same house it needs to be pretty big. Everyone but me is out right now, they should be back soon. In the meantime you two should go unpack. Bea your room is downstairs. First door on the left. Mae yours is upstairs all the way down on the end. I'll be down here when you're done." Says Andrew.

Mae quickly "unpacks" (basically just throws her stuff everywhere in hopes it lands in the right spot.) and heads down to the basement to check it out. She walks down and sees that it's pretty much another full blown story to the house. She spots a pool table and looks outside to see a hot tub on the deck outside. Next too the pool table is a TV and another couch. Further down are a few more rooms, one of which is Beas, she just forgets which one. She heads upstairs and plops down on one of the sofas. Andrews walks over and sits on the other sofa. "The others went out to town to get stuff and bring back pizza for us all to eat. Tomorrow is our first official work day so we're gonna celebrate the start of a new season." Says Andrew before opening a soda. "I thought you didn't start blowing snow for like a week?" Says Mae. "True, but we have to make sure everything's in order before we do so. Which means for me Setting up the cashiers, wifi, updating the website and other fun stuff. You're our new mechanic gall right?" Says Andrew. "Yea. Do you know what exactly i'll be doing?" Says Mae. "You'll be checking the snow guns and making sure they work. Also doing repairs on the Snow cats if needed. Also other stuff." Says Andrew followed by Bea coming upstairs and raiding the fridge. "So like, do we all share food and stuff here?" Says Bea, eying a large pitcher of iced tea. "Yea pretty much. We take a bit out of everyone's paycheck and use it as the house food fund. General rule is don't be a dick and eat something that is totally someone else's." Says Andrew. "So it's like little communism?" Says Bea. "No, because we have bread." Says a female polar bear (in a heavy russian accent) coming downstairs. "Sasha, I thought you went out with the gang?" Says Andrew. "No I was in my room watching those videos I found on Toby's computer and also m-" Says Sasha before being interrupted by Andrew. "Ok ok we get it! Sasha do you remember the talk we had about "cultural differences" a while ago?" "Oh you Americans and your stupid sensitivity to these things! We all do it yes?" Says Sasha followed by silence for a bit then a car pulling up the driveway.

5ish minutes later.

"So you're the newbies huh?" Says a badger. "Yea, my names Bea and that one over there is Mae." Says Bea. "Good to meet you two. My name is Erik, That one over there is Andrew, then Toby, Sasha, Ray and Talis. We are what's known as the Spine crew, we all are responsible for one major thing or managing something at the resort. Other people work there yes, but we are basically the ones that will get yelled at if anything goes wrong." Says Erik. "Andrew is our tech guy, Erik is the general manager, Toby is in charge of rentals and ski school, Sasha is our head groomer, Ray is in charge of the food court, me and you are our general mechanics and Bea is our stock managers." Says Talis, grabbing another slice of pizza. "Oh ok I see. Wait, how exactly do we get to work?" Says Mae. "Well you can either carpool with someone or walk down, I'll show you the path 'morrow mornin alright mate?" Says Toby. "Alright yea, sounds good!" Says Mae. The group then goes on to talk about random stuff throughout the night till about 10ish. And I mean random stuff, somehow they started on whether skiing is better then snowboarding and ended up on If combine harvesters can harvest soy, which required multiple google searches. After a while, everyone leaves the living room eventually and heads to bed. Everyone but Mae and Bea.

"And then there were two." says Bea. "Yup... You wanna go up on the roof?" Says Mae. "Its freezing, no, below freezing and is probably covered in ice which we could fall off of and die." Says Bea. "So…" says Mae. "Yea, lets do it" Says Bea. She then heads out onto the deck and climbs up onto the roof followed behind by Mae. The two get to the highest point on the roof and look at the lake. It's cold, very cold. Yet it feels good. The moonlight shimmers off the frozen lake, reflecting onto the surroundings. The two can make out one of the ski resorts with night skiing off in the distance. A lone light in a literal forest of darkness. "Holy crap." Says Bea. "What is it?". Says Mae. "We just...did this. Dropped everything and changed our lives. It's just like…I don't know." "What do you mean?" Says Mae. "I don't know it just feels like yesterday we were in the mine, or fixing that lady's furnace, or-" "Its alright, I feel the same way. But hey, I guess life just does that huh." Interrupts Mae.

The two sit there for a while. Not speaking. Just absorbing the actions they just did that resulted in the new lives they suddenly so quickly thrust upon themselves. Eventually Bea gets up and goes back to her room. Mae stays. A little bit of snow starts to fall. She doesn't know how long. Realizing she has work to do tomorrow she gets up to leave, and before she heads inside she swears she saw a light quickly flicker on and off somewhere in the woods.

✋︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✡︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎ ? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ

Sorry about the delay things have just been busy. Anyway i'm trying a few new things. First of all if you haven't joined the Night In The woods amino app you should totally do so. Its a great community and i can't recommend it enough. Second im going to develop characters more that you guys recomend, so either vote in the poll on Amino I will be making or msg me. Third is im gunna be doing end out sounds to well put you in the vibe i'm trying to set. This chapter's song is Lightning Tent by Wildlife.


	5. Chapter 3

I've been hearing complaints about how my dialogue is kinda hard to follow, so i'm just gonna lay down the rules i'm gonna follow from now on. If it's two people talking, the the dialogue will go back and forth. One person talks then another does, When the " " ends it's now gonna be the other person talking. When in groups of +2 however, i will do the traditional style of making small paragraphs. Please note that if it's obviously just two people talking, I might use the traditional form as well.

5 days, 9 hours and 11 minutes later

"Morning Mae, how'd you sleep?" Said Bea, sitting at the kitchen table, legs crossed sipping coffee. "Meh, alright, did Erik Leave yet?" Said Mae. "Yea, he left a while ago, took his car." Eh it's alright, I know how to get to the resort from the path. You gonna finish that bowl of cereal?" says Mae, pointing to the soggy bowl of cereal Bea was eating about 15 minutes ago. "Uhh no… why don't you just pour a non lumpy bowl?" Said Bea. Mae reached over to Bea's bowl and grabbed it and started to dig in. "I like it lumpy. I don't know why it just tastes good." Said Mae. "Umm….Ok? Hey look i'm leaving in an hour or so if you wanna take a ride with me then." Said Bea. "Nah, I kinda wanna take the path. Only seen it when it's been sunny, not when it's been snowing. Wanna see what it looks like now." Said Mae. "Well, alright then. See you there I suppose." Said Bea, getting up and walking to the bathroom. "See ya!" Hollered Mae. She then proceeded to grab her coat, gloves and boots before heading outside.

It didn't take her long to reach the path, just a quick walk around the lake to reach its entry point. She walked slowly, taking in her surroundings. Last night it had lightly snowed, a relief to the constant sun they had been experiencing. A good three inches fell, covering the forest in a white blanket. Even as she walked more was falling, not too heavy but just enough where she could safely say if it kept up they might open for the season early. For a long time the only sounds where the crunch of snow under her feet, her calm breathing and the occasional crow. As she closed in on the resort she spotted a lone Deer staring at her. It was a female, not a Buck. What was she doing so far away from her herd? The two just stood there for a while, staring at eachother till something scared off the Doe. Soon, she came up upon "The stumping lands" as gang called it. It used to be a part of the forest but was chopped down for the lumber and it was supposed to be used as the building area for a new warehouse containing ski resort equipment for the surrounding resorts. But apparently they forgot to rent a stump remover so until next summer the stumps will stay. About five minutes later Mae came up upon the garage. She could see Sasha refueling the Snowcats

"Morning Sasha!" called out Mae. "Oh Mae! Good morning! Could you do me a favor and help me quickly? Just hop in the cab and i'll tell you what to do!" Said Sasha. She then moved to the back of the Snowcat and opened up the engine cover. Mae hurried over and hopped in the cab and called out; "Alright Sasha, What do you want me to do?". "Alright, so do you see that little screen that says "Power level" on it? I am going to try and instal a new generator in the Cat so I need to know if it works or not. Just tell me if it changes." Called out Sasha. "Can do!" Replied Mae. She looked around the cab. To her it looked as complicated as a fighter plane cockpit. "So Sasha...Uhh what got you into mechanics slash "Snowcating" huh?" Said Mae.

"Well when I was a child the Soviet Union collapsed. My Father was involved in some… how do you say "highly illegal arms dealings"? Well it turned out the government had a LOT of spare tanks, helicopters, trucks, guns, missiles and much more. They also had a very large debt they had to pay, so they sold a lot of it to my father who then sold it to others. Well one day I come home from school and a T-80 was parked in the front of our mansion. My father had wanted to test drive it. He told me to get in and we drove around the town in a massive fucking tank! Oh you should have seen the look on the cop that stopped us face. He threatened to arrest him, but my father bribed him out so it was fine. That or he had a hit ordered on the cop. I forget which. Is this not the funniest thing you have heard?" Said Sasha, now laughing. "Anyway, from that day forward I was obsessed with big machines." Finished Sasha.

"Oh...Ha ha ha…" Said Mae nervously. "Hey uh Sasha, the meter is at 150, is that good?" Said Mae. "Oh perfect! That means I installed it correctly! Ok thank you for help Mae, you go now. Have good day!" Said Sasha. Mae quickly hopped out and headed to the control room.

Mae walked into the control room. It was pretty small, but that was fine for the resort, as not much needed monitoring. It was mainly comprised of a small round table with chairs, a massive computer system, a counter with a coffee machine, microwave and some snacks and drinks Erik bought. Ah yes, Erik. Erik was a German toucan, with a faint, yet noticeable accent. He was in charge of the "control" part of the control room. It was his job to stay and monitor the lifts, power system, transformers, snow blowers, groom team, terrain park and much more from the room. He would also do some hands-on work if needed. He had set up an elaborate computer system, with six monitors, each reading out data about the resort to help him. Erik was currently under the desk which the computer layed under. "Oh, hey Mae! Just gimme one sec, trying to fix this one cord…" Said Erik, followed by all the screens going black. "Uh, I think you made it worse... you might wanna see for yourself." Said Mae. Erik popped out and looked at his work. "Well...Shit. Eh, I can fix that later. Anyway, we should get to work. Our main goal for the day is to test out the lift's control booths. At the top and bottom of the lifts is a control booth, each one can control how fast the lift is going, and perform an emergency stop if needed. So, we will be testing out each booth to make sure they're all in functional order. I'll control the ones at the bottom, you at the top. You'll take the first lift we test up and from there move onto the next and so forth. Now I know that might sound a little confusing, but trust me, It's pretty easy once you actually do it." Said Erik. "Alright.. I guess, you ready?" said Mae, still not entirely sure what to do. "Yup! Let's roll!" said Erik, as he walked towards the door, followed behind by Mae.

The two headed for the first lift, it was a two seater. It led up to the west slopes, which was at the very west of the resort. These were dubbed the "hard" slopes because of the terrain and steep slopes. In reality, the terrain was "hard" because apparently they rarely groom it, it's risky because the snow-cats can sometimes drift down the sides on the west slopes if it's too icey according to Sasha. She also told Mae about the time where one hit an ice patch and slid down and hit a tree. The tree hit the fuel tank on the thing, and it exploded. Luckily, no one was injured, and apparently some of the remains of the snowcat are still there, because no one bothered to really clean up the smaller bits. "Alright, just take a seat, i'll start her up." Said Erik.

"Hey, can I hop on? Im headed up as well. Oh, also which way to the warehouse again?" Said Bea, walking over.

"Sure! Just hop on. Once you get up just head east till you spot the warehouse, you cannot miss it." Said Erik.

The two sat down on the lift, and Mae gave the thumbs up to Erik, who was sitting in the small control room for the lift. Soon, with a long whir of the lifts motor powering up, the duo started to ascend up the slopes. After a couple minutes of silence, Mae turned to Bea and said "Hey Bea, Sasha told me the craziest thing when I helped her earlier today. She said that when she was a kid, her and her dad drove some tank around her town and like, killed a cop or something, Isn't that cool!?" "Oh uh.., She already told me, like a while ago." Said Bea. "Wait what? Why'd she tell you?" Said Mae. "We were playing Never Have I Ever one night, and she said "Never have I ever NOT drove a Tank.", she is pretty damn crazy." Said Bea. "Huh, I didn't know you and Sasha hit it off so well, playing middle school gossip games and such." Said Mae. "I don't know, I guess I have a knack for becoming friends with people who are pretty much the opposite of me." Said Bea.

As she finished speaking, the lift suddenly came to a stand still. Almost as soon as it did, Mae's walkie talkie came to life. "Uhh yea, smokes pouring out of one transformers, it happens every year though, i'll have it fixed in no time, Erik out." said Erik over the walkie talkie. "What do you mean "It happens every year" huh?" Said Mae, followed by static. "What was all that about?" Said Bea. "well we're gonna be stuck here for a while, let's hope Erik knows how to fix a motor." said Mae. "Eh it's fine. Getting paid by the hour, not the effort." Said Bea.

The two sat there for a while. Not really saying anything till Bea spoke up. "Hey Mae, i've been meaning to tell you this, I just never really had the time." Said Bea. "Huh? What is it?" Said Mae. "You uh...You know Sasha is a lesbian right? And that sometimes she just starts randomly flirting with people?" Said Bea. "Wait what?! ...First of all, where the hell did that come from?! Second of all, how do you know this?!" Said Mae. "It was when we were playing Never Have I Ever, like the children we are, when she said she never was straight….She felt really bad after I looked at her funny after she said that. I mean, she does not look like a lesbian to me. To make her feel better I told her I used to be a lesbian, but that hardly he-" Said Bea, before being cut off by Mae.

"YOU WERE A LESBIAN!? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?" Said Mae. "Didn't I already tell you this? That one night when I drove you home after that summer party?" Said Bea. "I WAS ASLEEP! I didn't remember shit!" replied Mae.

"I was like 15 and I discovered all the different types of "adult videos" The internet had to offer, I had a lesbian phase but it lasted for like, a week until Phil Swift asked me out. We like, made out a few weeks later and then I was straight as a whistle" said Bea.

"Why didn't you tell me? Also I dont think thats the right phrase." said Mae. "Well, you never asked. Also it's not like I had a crush on you." Said Bea.

Once off, she tried to radio Erik again. He picked up this time and the two finished checking each lift. Each worked perfectly fine, and so did each of the control booths, with the only exception being the massive 6 man rapid-accent one that Erik said he would have to call in a guy who specialized in the type of lift to fix it.

"Huh, I didn't expect us to go so quick. Alright well I guess you're free to go Mae, I'm going to see if I can't go and fix the computer back in the control room.

"Isn't fixing stuff Andrew's job or something?" Said Mae

"Good point, alright i'm gonna go find Andrew and make this his problem. Hey I would go check on Ray If you have a second, I can smell french onion soup, he's probably cooking up a test batch. Go see if you can get some "samples" for the fridge back home. Oh, and make sure you try some yourself!" Said Erik before walking off back to the control room.

Mae started to head towards the main lodge. It was separated into three areas, up front near the parking lot was the ticket booth where lift tickets where sold. Once you bought your tickets, you would head down a long hallway towards the ski area. On the left side of the hallway was the doors to the cafeteria and on the right was doors to the rental area. The hallway itself was technically also a bridge as it crossed over a small creek. The floor also had small holes in it, for bits of snow stuck to ski-boots to fall into, and then into the creek. Mae headed left, and saw the cafeteria for the first time. It was composed in a rectangular fashion, with massive glass windows facing the mountain, and was very open and tall. It was full of tables and chairs for guests to eat at, and at the end was the actual cafeteria where guests could buy food. Mae headed over to the cafeteria. It was pretty much a glorified buffay, with signs for all types of food. Mae walked into the area that had a big "Staff only" sign above it and came upon the main cooking area where Ray stood facing a stove, stirring something that smelled wonderful.

Ray was a tall as hell Doberman with a thick French accent. Mae had no idea why such a muscular, mysterious, talented, Er "respectable person" would be working here.

"Hey Ray, what ya cooking?" Said Mae, peaking over his shoulder.

"Oh, Mae! I didn't hear you come in! Well, I planned on making 'tree cheese Bouillabaisse soup, but because of lack of herbs, I just settled for French onion." Said Ray.

"Well, It smells awesome, can I have a taste? Said Mae.

"Uh, sure! Here, allow me!" Said Ray, getting a ladle out and filling it with soup. He then poured it in a pre prepared bowl with bread in it. He then sprinkled some cheese on top and placed it in an oven to cook.

"So uh, How long that gonna take?" Said Mae, clearly impatient.

"About say 10 minutes, I make sure to slow cook to get all the flavors to steep in." Said Ray, taking a seat in a chair he brought over, and pushing one over for Mae.

"So uh, I was asked to "Liberate" some soup for the good of the people, are you willing to comply or do we have to call in the KGB?" Said Mae, in an absolutely atrocious Russian accent.

"Oh no officer, I planned on taking these back to the house for us to eat for dinner anyhow. No need to take me to the gulag." Jokingly replied Ray, Pouring the soup into a large tupperware container.

"Oh my god yes, if this is like that one time you cooked those French-French fries, this is gonna make me go into food ecstasy." Said Mae, rubbing her stomach.

"That was poutine, and it is not french. Well, kinda." Said Ray.

The timer on the oven went off, and Ray took out the bowl of soup, the cheese was right at that point where if cooked any longer it would have started to bubble. Mae greedily started to devour it.

"Holy crap, this is awesome!" Said Mae.

"Thank you! Anyway, I should be getting this stuff home, it doesn't last well not refrigerated, i'll see you at the house!". Replied Ray, starting to pack up all of his stuff.

"Alright! See ya!" chirped Mae.

Soon Ray left, and Mae took her food over to the second level dining area to eat, and get a better view of the mountain. Just a quick look before she headed home.

Mae sat down on top of a table that faced the mountain. The snow stopped a while ago and the sky was crimson red. While not massive, the mountain was long, like a fold in the earth instead of a pinch. The snow that had finally settled created not a blanket but a sheet of snow. More would be added to it as it got colder. Mae finished eating and walked downstairs, checked in with Sasha who said she was gonna be late, and started back on the path.

Along the way home, she tripped on something. She got up and examined just what it was. To her surprise, it was a massive bullet. Half a foot long and silver with a gold streak going down it. What type of gun would fire such a massive bullet? And more importantly what the hell was it supposed to kill? Elephants? As she started to walk again, she pondered this. I mean, sure maybe it could be used to hunt bears, but they're not a lot of those around here. Also, the gun that fired it must have been the size of a dude. Like a little rocket launcher maybe. That or the bullet is a prop of some type. Yea, probably just a prop. Well, whatever it is, it's mine now thought Mae.

Mae finally reached the house, it was dark now, but the houses bright lights kinda illuminated the area. She walked in, said hi to everyone and took yet another bowl of french onion soup Ray brought home and microwaved it for dinner. She sat down on the couch with Toby and Talis and watched some Malloy and Gabo.

"Hey Malloy!"

"Yea Garbo!"

"Did I ever tell you about the time I went to Antarctica?"

"You went to Antarctica? For what, to learn suit design from penguins?"

*Laugh track*

"No silly! I went down as a tourist! I wanted to explore the unknown!"

"A tourist! How much did that trip cost ya?"

"More then you'll ever make!"

*Laugh track*

"We make the same amount of money! Unless you and one of those penguins had an affair!"

*Loud laugh track*

"That's a whoppa!"

"Join us next week as me and Malloy train a child milita!"

Mae finished up her food and went down stairs, apparently Talis got the hot tub running. She Walked down and found Ray and Sasha sitting in the tub together. Mae instantly blushed at the sight of a shirtless Ray, and wondered just how the hell Sasha can be so confident around him. Unless...were they dating? And Bea was full of shit? That or Ray knows and is not awkward around her.

"Mae! Is good to see you! Will you be joining us?" Said Sasha.

"Uh, nah. I'm about to pass out. I'll see you guys in the morning." Said Mae. She then walked up stairs, then upstairs again and into her room. She got undressed and got into bed.

Mae just lied down on her bed, staring out the window. Soon, the resort would be opening, and this new life Mae had chosen to live would be starting up, for real this time. She could see the snow outside, falling again, much harder now. The white contrasted with the blackness of night. Mae felt afraid, but not super scared, an odd feeling. She was afraid of a repeat of college, the shapes reforming, tearing at her soul once more. But inside her heart, she knew something was different this time. Sure, she had Bea but this time she also had potential friends. Friends that wouldn't require some awkward introduction. Friends that would be at least semi permanent. It was a whole new chapter, and as she drifted off to sleep, something in her mind told her this was gonna be the semi normal not dead end life she hoped for. Right before she finally closed her eyes, She could have sworn she saw someone looking in through her window...


	6. Chapter 4

One Month Later

"Mae"

"Mae, Wake up."

"Ugh. Bea it's four in the morning. We don't have to be at work till seven. Now let me sleeeeep." Replied a still half asleep Mae.

"You know its Winterfest today. Unless you want to lose your job you better be downstairs ready to go in a half hour or you're walking. Oh, and it's snowing pretty hard." Said Bea

"Alright, fine. I'm up. Just make me some toast so I can eat in the car. I'll be down in a minute." Said Mae. Bea then left, turning on the light on the way out, despite the angry moans of Mae. She then got up, went and showered and got ready for the day. About ten minutes later she booted down the stairs and grabbed a slice of toast Bea tossed to her as they both walked out the door and into Bea's car. Bea wasn't joking about the snow. It was really coming down, Mae could still see but not that far.

"So this is what a nor'easter is huh. Erik was talking about it last night. Should die down a bit later today but the snow won't stop until Tuesday." Said Bea.

"Tuesday?! Thats in four days!" Exclaimed Mae in a worried tone. She hated working in the snow. Sure, It was pretty, but being up hundreds of feet in the air trying to fix a motor on a ski lift in the blinding snow basically cancelled out any good feelings she had for it.

"Yes Mae, It is. Congrats on finally figuring out basic mathematics." Replied Bea, lighting a cigarette.

"Oh come on, you of all people shouldn't be scolding me. I mean, you're starting to smoke before then sun is even up. You're lungs are gunna shrivel up in like a year if you keep that up." Said Mae, crossing her arms in protest.

"It helps me relax. Im stressed out that I might eff up on the most important day for the resort and lose my job and have to go back home alone to Possum Springs. Besides, I can quit whenever I want." Said Bea as she pulled into the resort's parking lot.

"Ouch that first part. And the day you stop smoking will be the day I go back to college." Said Mae, looking out the window. She could already see preparations for the festival were hastily underway. She spotted Ray unloading boxes of potatoes at the delivery bay, Andrew working with seven other nerds trying to instal the new massive wifi antenna that just arrived. She remembered how pissed off he was after getting told by Erik that the sponsors of the event wanted the reception of the entire mountain improved so guests could easily share on social media the "Amazing experiences they were having at the _Geep Automotive's WinterFest_ " Because it apparently might "May lead to some milleneilas feeling that they have to then buy a Geep in order to keep up with their friends" or some garbage. But the real thing that got him mad was the fact that they would only give him a hundred bucks to do it. After he personally called the CEO of Geep (We still don't know how he got his number) and saying that Honde was willing to give the resort ten thousand dollars to buy a new Wifi antenna AND take over as the main sponsor for WinterFest. The CEO then personally promised to buy the resort a 50 thousand dollar top of the line antenna if they promised to never talk to Honde again. The whole stunt almost got Andrew fired, but I really don't think he cared.

Bea found a good parking spot and stopped the car. The two got out and Bea headed off to the rental shop to help Toby manage the huge amount of people that would need rental equipment for the day. Mae headed in the opposite direction towards the Control Room. All the lifts were running smoothly, so she just had to wait till one of them broke and needed to repair, or really until anything in the resort broke and Talis needed her help. Mae always loved the path to the control room. The control room itself was built where an old ski run used to be. The resort had to abandon it along with a couple other ski runs because they didn't have enough money to maintain them. According to Erik it wasn't all that bad, as it meant they didn't have to clear land to build the control room, as they could just build it on one of the runs. Mae could tell exactly where the run used go based on the sea of evergreens that took its spot. It was weird, seeing so much green in winter, however for the first time all season, Mae couldn't see almost any green. All of the trees were completely covered in snow from last nights storm. They looked like snow pyramids growing from the ground.

As Mae approached the door to the control room, she noticed a piece of paper tapped to it. She pulled it off and started to read it, "Sasha is asleep inside. You'll need to boot everything up on your own, ill be over as soon as I'm done with the antenna. Thanks hamburger helper." Mae then gently opened the door and turned on the lights. She then saw Sasha on the couch, lying down listening to something on her phone.

"Morning Mae." Said Sasha, not opening her eyes. "Oh good, you're awake. I thought id have to wake you up." Sad Mae, as she put down her backpack and sat down at the main computer. "You would have if i didn't have this podcast to listen to. I was working all night with the snow cat snow plow. Had to keep all the runs clear enough so the smaller snow plows wouldn't get stuck in all the snow. But the guys are here now though to plow for me, Im pretty much free till tonight when I have to double check the terrain for the freestyle competition. You on the other hand are going to be the busiest person here, _Hamburger helper_ " said Sasha. "You know the rules, I'm not substituting or helping you, so you can't call me that." said Mae.

Mae earned that nickname about a week after she first started working. After that first week Erik told her why she REALLY was brought on. Talis could basically repair everything but the Ski lifts. Well, he couldn't legally at least. Their was a law that prevented him from doing so, as it said that it could only be repaired by someone who took a advanced lift mechanics class. Mae completed the class before dropping out of college, so technically she was qualified. Erik told her that corporate however, didn't like the idea of paying not only wages but also housing for someone who only could repair ski lifts. So she was basically assigned to be a helper or replacement if possible to anyone who needed it. Thats why everyone called her hamburger helper, and was why she was doing Andrew's job.

Mae turned the main computer on, made sure all the walky talky's were charged so employees could call in problems to her from theirs and checked the Problem map. It was an entire map of the Ski resort with little L.E.D. lights on it. Although the mountain itself was fairly small vertically, (really being 2100 feet tall at the top and 1500 at the bottom, which meant you really only had about 600 feet of skiable elevation) it was almost 2 miles long horizontally, which meant the resort could fit in a ton of trails and runs. The far left side was where the resort first started and the most dense. It had tons of small trails that led into each other and they were really only separated by a couple of trees. Most of the lifts were over there as well, so Mae knew the area pretty well. The middle had longer trails and a couple of "Runs" which were specialized trails known for their steepness and difficulty, while being pretty short. It also was where all the terrain parks were. Two of them were just regular trails with grinding rails and small jumps built on then while another was just four massive jumps. The fourth one though, was the Resort's crowning jewel. It was called BlueBull park and boy was it fancy. BlueBull basically funded and built the thing themselves. It had a ton of features in it. several grinding rails that led to snow clips for snowboarders to jump off of, three huge jumps for people to pull of some crazy tricks off of and to top it all off the largest half pipe on the east coast and the only one in the state. Every year at WinterFest they had a televised competition on it which was the main event of WinterFest. But after BlueBull park there really wasn't much. Out of the seven lifts and twenty six ski trails that were on the right side of the Resort, only two lifts and 11 trails were open. Sure, they were long but only by a bit compared to the other runs. It was nicknamed "The wild lands" due to the neglect the Resort gave it. It was densely wooded and barely groomed as well, but that wasn't always the case. Erik told her at the Christmas party that a month after the right side had its grand opening (which apparently kinda sucked because they hadn't cleared out all the trees on the paths so the paths were incredibly tight)last year and then for no reason that entire part of the park was closed. Some of it reopened, but not much. Corporate never said why, but Erik said it probably had something to do with money problems, as the recession hit the resort hard. Mae really didn't care though, as it just meant less work for her.

She powered up the map and smiled, as all the lights were green. Green meant no problem, Red meant that their was a problem and it needed Mae or Talis to come fix it, Orange meant that their was a problem but that the staff there was trying to fix it on their own, Blue meant that they needed help from someone other then Mae or Talis and Purple meant that the place was over crowed. Purple lights meant that Mae had to go on the computer and take power away from somewhere in the resort and temporarily feed it to the lift that was overcrowded to make it move quicker, thus solving the overcrowdedness.

"Hey Sasha, can you wake me up if one of those lights changes color?" Said Mae, as she yawned and grabbed one of the blankets off Sasha and wrapped herself around it. "Sure, as long as I get your pay and my blanket back" Said Sasha. "Partner, the only thing a true American shares is his liberty and freedom along with rapid pew-pew guns." Said Mae in her best country accent as she closed her eyes. "Ha ha, I'm a foreigner. Funny joke. Ill cover for you until Andrew comes back, but Its your fault if anything catches on fire or dies while you're asleep." Said Sasha. "You are truly the master of the deal. Ill take it." Said Mae, trying to find the best position to go back to sleep in."

"Sweet dreams or something Mae"

"Thanks, will do."

"No, Mae you're supposed to say you to, i'm from Russia and even we know that."

But it was to late, Mae had already passed out.


End file.
